Hi, this is Pastor Diego. Welcome to The Daily Five. Thank you for joining us today. This podcast is designed to give you a short, daily, five-minute word of encouragement to inspire you to think and act on God's Word.
Hey, welcome to today's episode. Today, right as we're getting into the weekend, I want to talk to you about two reasons why we should forgive. If you're like me, at one point or another in your life, you have struggled to choose forgiveness over becoming bitter after you feel rejected or abandoned or hurt by someone. Maybe you're in that place right now.
And as you're preparing to spend time with friends and family over the holidays, those deep hurts from people around you can feel like an open wound when they're not resolved, especially in the middle of what's supposed to be holidays that are full of joy and gratefulness, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. And believe me, I understand. Choosing to forgive is hard, especially when it feels like you or someone you care about has been treated unfairly. But the truth is this, that it's good to forgive.
And it's not just good. It's biblical for us to extend forgiveness to those people who have hurt us. I want to give you two reasons today why you should forgive others, even when it's the last thing that you feel like doing. Number one, forgiveness doesn't justify what they did, but it does free you.
Forgiving someone is making a decision to choose mercy and grace over bitterness and resentment. If there's anything, you can choose how you react and how you feel about what someone has done to you. In Luke chapter 6, verse 36, it says, be merciful just as your father is merciful. Since I'm very aware of my own need for grace, I have to be willing to freely give grace away as well.
Forgiveness doesn't validate the people who hurt me. It doesn justify their hurtful actions Giving grace and showing grace to people helps set me free It helps me as an individual The Bible gives us an example of what giving grace to someone looks like In Luke chapter 6 verse 27 it says do good to those who hate you Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If you want a practical way to begin to get over the pain that someone has caused you, look no further than Luke chapter 26 verse 27 and 28.
And it will tell you the practical steps to take. To do good to those who hate you. To bless those who curse you. And to pray for those that mistreat you.
The second reason you should forgive, number two, is because forgiveness releases those offenses into the hands of God so that you can begin to heal. Forgiving someone doesn't mean that you'll get your storybook ending. But it's going to bring peace and it's going to bring honor to a situation that could otherwise leave you bitter, a situation that could leave you defensive and in pain. You have to trust God to get you through the forgiveness journey so that you can finally begin to heal.
Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3 says, You will keep in perfect peace all of those who trust in you and all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Lift up your hurt and your honest feelings to the Lord through prayer, and it will bring you peace. Before I finish today's episode, I want to give you an exercise that you can do to get started. You can start by repeating this to yourself, and it's going to make the forgiveness process just that much easier when you finally confront the person that hurt you.
Say this to yourself. Say, Today I will speak with honor even while being dishonored. Say today I will speak with peace even while I'm being threatened. Say today I will speak of good things even in the middle of a bad situation.
God bless you. See you Monday. You've been listening to the Daily Vibe. Apply the word and make today count.